The invitation for her families annual Christmas party was sitting on our table. We’d gone every year, but this time it felt different.

My mom, dad, and I stand on the front porch of their house, only having walked from right next door. My father rings the doorbell, and I shove my hands into my pockets.

I know for a fact that she doesn’t want to see me. Especially not after what I did to her and Micheal.

She opens the door, and god, she’s so beautiful. Little red dress, glossed lips, curled hair. What I would give to kiss those lips.

‘Stop it Bennett! She doesn’t want you!’ My inner voice tells me. It’s true. She’s never wanted me, and it fucking kills me.

The three of us step inside of her house, and her step mother has outdone the decorations. Garland, mistletoe, little snowmen all over the place. And she looks miserable.

Christmas parties were her mother’s thing. And she knows her stepmom will never do it like her mom did.